Believe it or not, the Samsung Galaxy Note is also meant to be used as a phone. Taking this thing and putting it next to your head is certainly not beautiful, but it's possible. Unfortunately, the earpiece is disastrous, as it fails to emit tones with decent loudness, plus it makes voices coming through it sound muffled. The microphone isn't very strong, but it does pick up your voice well, so at least the person on the other end of the line won't have that much trouble while conversing with you.

With such a huge display, it's only natural for us to be a bit worried about the battery life of the Samsung Galaxy Note. Thankfully though, the manufacturer has managed to fit a pretty decent 2500mAh battery inside, which should be able to provide 13 hours of talk-time and about 24 days of stand-by – a remarkable achievement indeed.

Conclusion:

It should be clear that the Samsung Galaxy Note is a niche product. It's not a phone designed to take over the mass market. Why is that? The big dimensions of the Note make it much more uncomfortable to handle and use than any other smartphone. Some people with extraordinarily large hands may have a chance of finding it okay, but those cases will be extremely rare. Just to give you an example, the device's size means that it's absolutely impossible to use it with one hand only. As a matter of fact, it also makes some normal everyday stuff like typing out messages and emails too much of a hassle.

Of course, the bigger screen has its benefits. Important areas such as internet browsing and multimedia consumption have gained the most, though this doesn't mean that the experience is light-years ahead from that of a normal 4.3" smartphone like the Galaxy S II, for example. If you are a mobile gamer, the Galaxy Note will be a very suitable solution as well. However, where this handset shines is in the process of note-taking, which has been made more intuitive thanks to the ability to write with the special stylus. If you're looking for just this kind of handwriting experience, then the Galaxy Note is sure to appeal to you.

Leaving the enormous screen and dimensions aside, the Samsung Galaxy Note is a pretty decent smartphone, equipped with powerful hardware, delivering zippy performance with all tasks. It's very well feature-packed, although some of its aspects haven't been executed in the best possible way. For example, call quality is very poor, while the camera is fine, but nothing industry-leading.

As far as alternatives go, we would recommend that you consider the HTC Sensation XL, which offers a 4.7" screen, as well as all variants of the Samsung Galaxy S II. If you are in the States, Sprint's Epic 4G Touch and T-Mobile's Galaxy S II come with 4.52" displays, while AT&T will soon join the party with its 4.5" Galaxy S II Skyrocket. And, if you can wait a little longer, we believe that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Nexus and its 4.65" screen will also prove to be a pretty decent solution. By the way, if the enhanced experience of taking notes is what you're after, you should also check out Sprint's EVO View 4G (or Europe's HTC Flyer), which is a 7" Gingerbread-powered tablet by HTC, having the very same idea as the Galaxy Note, complete with the stylus.

Software version of the reviewed unit: Android 2.3.5, Build: GINGERBREAD.XXKJ4

Yeah true but none of them has had it in their hands. That's the only credit I can give to this review but everything else is totally out of place. They should have reviewed the Note as the niche device it is, not as a normal smartphone or an iPhone 4S wannabe.

What every1 is ignoring is the price, I would rather have an iPad 2 32GB than this thing. It's too small to be a tab and too big to be a phone, its very expensive, it sucks at being a phone, and it doesn't have the size advantage of a tablet.

I know seriously just buy a galaxy tab if you want to take notes or whatever. Then when you want to use a phone, just use your smartphone.Not that hard to sync data between your tablet,and whatever devices you use.

well, i have read the other reviews, where they say that the call quality, and speaker performance are awesome, n very impressive, even engadget (which is considered pro-apple) talked abt the impressive call quality, and speaker performance of the Galaxy Note. either iPhonearena is totally biased (which it is most of the time), or they have got a faulty unit. one other thing, when phonearena talks about the battery life, they just mention the manufacture's stats, but they should mention the battery life according to their own experience and usage and their own special battery tests. simply quoting the official stats cant be cosidered a good review. dont trust phonearena reviews ever. techradar and gsmarena reviews are way better and comprehensive.

Actually, no. PhoneArena clearly stated on their iPhone 4S review: "Right now, we believe the Apple iPhone 4S is deserving a rating of 9/10, when we consider its overall quality, features and price (...)".
That sounds to me like “we desperately want to give a 10 (overall quality?) to the iPhone 4S but we cannot because we would lose our credibility as reviewers”.
Someone commented that if the Note had an Apple logo on its back then it would have got a 10. Perhaps he is right after all.
I think PhoneArena should disclaim what phones they personally own.

Told my Wife about this beast, and she drooled all over herself. She WANTS a tablet/smartphone hybrid, and I would jump all over an unlocked version of this as a Christmas surprise for her. Here is hoping I get that shot....

Also notice they mentioned the HTC Sensation at 4.7" as an alternative, but not the 4.7" HTC Titan, the Windows Phone. I can understand it as this is an Android Tablet... er, phone.. um - whatever. I just had to throw it out there!!

Why do you list "screen size" as a pro, and then list it as a con because "it only brings marginal improvements in certain areas"? Even if they're only marginal improvements, shouldn't it still be a pro?

hold one ray, why are you beeing so negative as giving a 7 where all i see is just a measily 3 page review, and those 3 pages arent exactly what i called a in depth review. the main part of this phone is the pen, where i dont see an in depth part about in... i think PA should just stop with the preview and just stick with a single full review so that there is no excuse to skip a full indepth length video...

Hi Ray S. Your review is certainly not agreeable. Why did you say that typing on the Galaxy Note is poor due to its large screen? Common sense dictates that thumb typing on a bigger screen is easier. The keys are just bigger as compared to an iPhone which has a smaller screen, and therefore, the keys are cramped up.

i actually got it and it I recommend! Everything about it is FLAWLESS except for the voice which is not the best but its more than enough to get by. I'm in high school in the states and about 5'4 but texting is awesome on the phone even though i'm pretty small especially in portrait. Its AMAZING!!!

Wow, people because you feel that this product should a higher score don't mean that you are right and he is wrong. Have any of you use the phone before? Okay then STFU and phone arena being biased. It is funny because all the top of the line Android phone been rated around a 9 or how are they being biased? And for call quality it base on a group test not the one reviewer. You people need to read the review first.

Giving a 7 is downright biased. Comparing the specs and performance of the galaxy note to those high end should give you a clear indication that it deserves a similar score.It provides the same package as the S2 in a larger package,faster stock processor plus stylus in tow. Just cause the reviewer couldn't understand how it would be successful and is at best a niche product. All his opinions btw, his analysis doesn't represent reality as everyone in the iPhoneArena office could agree with him but ultimately its success will depend on consumers and 99% of them don't come to phone arena.The small minority that decide to research before buying might have their opinions swayed by this crappy review.

Great device, challenging the boundaries between smartphone and tablet that provides great performance and good (acceptable) call quality,deserves and 8 or 8.5

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